THUNDER: Trenton experiencing roster shake up

Friday, June 21, 2013

By JOSH NORRISjnorris@trentonian.com

TRENTON — Over the last 11 days, Trenton’s roster has undergone what could lightly be called an extreme makeover. Counting promotions, demotions and injuries, Trenton lost 13 players from June 10 until Friday night. Pitchers Zach Nuding, Fred Lewis, Francisco Rondon, Caleb Cotham, Graham Stoneburner and Jose Ramirez were pushed to Triple-A Scranton. Catcher J.R. Murphy joined them. Shortstop Ali Castillo and catcher Tyson Blaser were sent down to High-A Tampa.

Three more players, Neil Medchill, Kevin Mahoney and pitcher Matt Tracy, all were injured and required stints on the disabled list.

In their place, the Thunder received pitchers Rigoberto Arrebato, Sean Black, Shane Greene and Scottie Allen, infielders Casey Stevenson, Andrew Clark and Carmen Angelini, as well as catchers Jeff Farnham and Francisco Arcia.

When Murphy bid the capital city adieu, he was replaced not by uber-prospect Gary Sanchez, but instead by his backup, Arcia. In 251 minor league games, Arcia has popped 16 home runs, including one in his first at-bat in Double-A. Sanchez, by comparison, has 10 this season alone.

As a 20-year-old in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League, Sanchez has complemented those 10 dingers with a scintillating .276/.340/.482 batting line. He’s also struck down 42 percent of potential base burglars. So what’s keeping him from heading north?

One Yankees official told The Trentonian this week that the organization wants to keep him in Tampa to work on catching pitchers with big-time velocity. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that he struggles to receive and frame hard fastballs.

The staff at Tampa, which features smoke-throwing righties Rafael DePaula, Corey Black and Bryan Mitchell, should give Sanchez plenty of chances to improve.

Ramirez and Cotham were transferred back to Trenton on Friday, but those appear to be paper moves to accommodate the arrivals of Lewis and Nuding. Cotham is still listed on Scranton’s game notes as the starter in the first game of the RailRiders’ doubleheader on Saturday. Ramirez isn’t slated to pitch again until Monday, which falls on the newly-promoted Greene’s turn in the rotation.

Some of these promotions were the normal, merit-based variety that normally litters the minor leagues around midseason. Others, however, were necessitated by the constant shuffling and re-shuffling of rosters across the organization due to injury and ineffectiveness.

“It’s probably the biggest whirlwind that the organization has gone through,” Franklin said, “with everyone being injured from top to bottom. We went through something similar to this last year, maybe not as extensive. We’ve got a lot of guys hurt from the major leagues on down, and that’s necessitating all of the moves that have to be made. We’ve got to have people to play, and that’s the reason for all the shuffling.”

To wit, Tuesday’s outfield at Triple-A Scranton featured two shortstops (Addison Maruszak and Walter Ibarra) manning left and right field, and a center fielder (Cody Grice) with a half-season of High-A ball to this credit. The Yankees offered some relief in the following days by acquiring outfielders Fernando Martinez and Corey Patterson, as well as designated hitter Randy Ruiz, to fill some holes.

Because of his recent slump, Murphy’s promotion might have seemed a little premature, but not inappropriately so. He did, after all, spend 92 games here over this season and last.

Ramirez’s abrupt move upward, however, came as bit of a shock. The spindly, gas-slinging right-hander missed the first month and tallied just 42 1/3 Double-A innings before the Yankees pulled the trigger and sent him to Scranton to fill Chris Bootcheck’s spot in the Scranton rotation.

He’d missed the season’s first three weeks with shoulder fatigue and, after starting with a bang, had returned to earth in his last few starts with Trenton. With eight starts in Double-A, Ramirez moved from this level quicker than Ian Kennedy and only one start slower than Joba Chamberlain.

“I think his move was more of a ‘let’s see if he can pitch there’ than it was covering any injury,” Franklin said. “I’m not surprised that Cotham’s gone. I’m not surprised that Nuding’s gone. I’m not surprised any of these guys are gone, because they’ve proved they’re all capable.”